Daily Freeman Life Editor Ivan Lajara talks about journalism, living in the Hudson Valley, language, the Web, cats and even politics. But he shouldn't.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

JRC Chat at noon talks about Project Thunderdome

It's Wednesday again! (it seems to happen every week). And that means that members of the Journal Register Company's Idealab - and anyone who wants to - are going to be taking part on the weekly Twitter chat at noon.

If this sounds cryptic to you, its' because, um, it kind of is, so we'll be talking what all this is, what it means to us, to our users (that would be you), to journalism, and how everything is going to work out without the help of Mel Gibson. And we're all going to be doing this on the Twitters, because that's how we roll.

How to get free cake with tweets

Zombies needed for filming in Kingston

Our friends from the Hudson Valley Film Commission have just announced that an upcoming filming in Kingston featuring a "world renowned band" is casting extras, featured extras and dancers of all styles (tap, African, breaking, popping, ballet).

Specifically, the commission says, they are looking for "FASHIONISTA CLUB ZOMBIES"

The commission explains:

Time commitments depend will depend on role but may be up to 10 hours for main shoot day.

Date will be announced shortly.

The dress code for this project is critical.
They are looking for FASHIONISTA CLUB ZOMBIES

POLL: Tell us what you think about 'The Latest'

After receiving several comments regarding our new pop-under feature, we would like to get a better idea of what you think. The feature appear once per visit and open in a new window beneath our webpage.

The window is designed to deliver recommended links based on the individual reader's history and also highlights the most recent videos produced by The Freeman staff.

Should we keep or do away with that? Tell us what you think by filling out the form below. Your submissions will not be visible to the public.

JRC Chat at noon discusses being first, but being right

Members of the Journal Register Company Idealab, editors, digital ninjas and anyone interested are once again holding another weekly Twitter chat at noon today (we've changed the time to be able to include more people).

We'll be talking about how new web tools allow us to be first in covering a story and how does that compromise or challenge our goal of being right.

If you want to chime in, just post a tweet with the hashtag "#jrcchat" so it can automatically appear below, or post a comment in the field at the bottom of the chat.

Bonus! If something seems hard to follow, don't hesitate to ask questions. We're a pretty nice crowd and that's the whole point of the chat.

And, yes, once again, I'm copy-pasting much of what I said last week. It's part of what I've dubbed, the Two-Click Philosophy. More on that DURING THE CHAT!

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=ec514324f2" &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;JRC Chat on being first, but being right&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

What happened to the QR codes in the Freeman?

I created a Likify code and placed it at the bottom of the front page. I stayed there for a month. After gathering eight 'Likes' for our Facebook page, I decided to discontinue its run, at least on the front page, as it was using too much coveted 'real estate,' as we say in the biz (because, apparently, we want to be Realtors or something).

That was strike one for the code. I believe that if it was placed somewhere more permanently - like a flier or at distribution boxes around town, it couldn't hurt to have them (since it doesn't cost anything to maintain them, so there's no loss).

What worked against it was the fact that, most likely, you had to download a QR reader and then scan the thing to be send to a page to click the like button and then have to login to your Facebook account on your phone's browser, which probably looks like crap, because it doesn't work with Facebook apps. So instead of making it easier, it seemed to make it even more complicated for early users. My hat's off to those eight we went through it.

If you want to go through this yourself, here's a quick way of doing this.

March 11, 2011 Honshu tsunami propagation

Propagation of the March 11, 2011 Honshu tsunami was computed with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast method using MOST model with the tsunami source inferred from DART® data. From the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research, located at NOAA PMEL in Seattle, WA.

JRC Chat at noon on Tuesday tackles implementation of web tools

Members of the Journal Register Company Idealab, editors, digital ninjas and anyone interested are once again holding another weekly Twitter chat at noon on Tuesday.

We'll be talking about the implementation of digital tools into a workday, namely Google Maps, Google docs (with forms) and timelines. Once again, there will be a lot of links, or - as we say around here - ALOT!

O+Festival plans another, uh, festival!

The folks at the O+ Festival have recently announced that "planning is underway for the second" O Positive Festival, set to take place in Kingston Oct. 7 to 9.

Art and music submissions are now open.

Festival organizers announce thus:

As O+ gets the word out—developing relationships with supporters from the West Coast to the UK, with plans to expand beyond Kingston—the team is assembling an elegant publication of photographs and essays along with a compilation CD to be released in June 2011. Keep up with news about this project and more by following O+ at facebook.com/opositivefest and twitter.com/opositivefest.

Learn more about the O+ Festival in a poignant five-minute documentary by filmmaker Maciek Godlewski featured on the site, at opositivefestival.org.

Much ado about the Pike Plan

Stephen M. Finkle, Director of Economic Development for the city of Kingston, sent Freeman reporter Paul Kirby a copy of Uptown's Pike Plan.

Finkle writes:

The first section shows items to be demolished, the second shows construction.
Note that much of the structure is not being demolished- that the roofs will be replaced and skylights installed; columns will be repaired and about 20% of the columns will be eliminated to allow for more visibility behind them. You should probably look at the construction drawings after page 24 for a view of the finished product.

The Timothy Matthews scandal - another timeline

JRC Chat at noon discusses new developments in media

As it is now becoming tradition, members of the Journal Register Company Idealab (yours included) and anyone interested are going to be holding the weekly Twitter chat at noon.

Today will be talking about new developments in media: How much can things like gamification add or take away from journalistic mission; do some new tools help improve stories or distract from them?; and more.

The feed is posted below.

As always, you are welcome to participate and chime in anytime you want.We'll have links! You don't want to miss it.